White Noise
by lovehighlighter
Summary: He couldn't hear the rain because his heart was too loud. HoriKashi OneShot.


_The rain was simply keeping time to the melody his heart was playing_

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 **White Noise**

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Masayuki had a set routine every morning. After his alarm rang, he would check his phone for the time and check his messages. Then, he would jump in the shower- if he skipped a bath the night before- and then brush his teeth.

However, he only made it as far as checking his phone screen when he remembered his mental note from the day before to get his head checked.

Like a metronome, there was a dull beating he kept hearing. It resonated in the back of his mind- a solid, steady beat that didn't stop his daily activities, but was so goddamn annoying. And it was back, _thud thud_ playing like white noise just by seeing the image on his phone's lock screen replaced by a picture of Yuu and himself.

"Damnit, Kashima…" he mumbled to himself, laying back down in the bed. He remembered her asking for permission to mess with his phone, but he didn't notice her take the photo or change the background until just then.

The beating in his ears seemed to follow time with his heart, as he noticed it was getting harder and harder to ignore the erratic thumping in his chest. Masayuki wanted nothing more than to just go back to sleep and ignore it all.

When had it started?

He found himself thinking and thinking and thinking, and by the time he remembered the soft, pink, cherry blossom petals falling, and her tall figure standing more majestically than anyone else, and the strong urge to approach her, he found himself falling back asleep.

Masayuki had a set routine every morning, and this time, he fucked it up by falling back asleep.

Consequently, he didn't have time to gel his hair, he didn't eat breakfast, he didn't make it to the train station in time, and thus, he was late for class looking like a mess.

Mistakes happen every once in awhile, but Masayuki didn't remember the last time something like this had happened. He could hear the thudding in the back of his head, but it was more painful and annoying and he was sure what he was feeling now and what he was feeling that morning were the same thing: just a big headache.

For the rest of the day he slept in the nurse's office. It wasn't like him to skip class. But it also wasn't like him to be late, and to not instantly delete the picture of Yuu off of his home screen.

He kept absentmindedly checking his phone and he kept absentmindedly staring at her grinning face. He would ignore the distant thudding and just assumed it wasn't enough sleep.

Even in his sleep he thought of The Prince and falling petals and the first time he heard the white noise of his heart.

After spending most of the day in the nurse's office, he slowly and quietly gathered his things. He went to the shoe lockers and grabbed his shoes. He heard his white noise playing it's steady beat and ignored it as he walked to the entrance.

It wasn't his heart this time, it was the rain.

Each drop of water fell heavily to the earth, making a resounding thud. Rain played it's own beat while Masayuki remembered he didn't bring anything to shelter him from it's cold melody. He momentarily worried for himself- with his heart randomly thumping erratically, his headache during class, his whole day being a giant mess; he wondered if the rain would make him even more sick than he believed he was.

It shouldn't matter. Sick or not, he had to go home and sleep so he can start the day right tomorrow.

The teen walked to where the dry tile met the wet cement and held his breath, only to have it forced out of him.

"Hori-senpai!"

Running toward him, calling his name, was Yuu. Her hair was wet, her eyes were worried, and her umbrella was doing little to protect her as she rushed forward. Her sudden presence allowed the personal white noise playing in his chest to pick up again. She was huffing by the time she reached him and grabbed his shoulders with her wet hands.

"Senpai! When I went to your classroom after school, they said you went to the nurse's office and probably went home sick! Are you okay? I went to your apartment to make sure you were okay but you weren't there. I'm glad I came back here to look for you." The raindrops falling down her face gave the illusion she was crying. It made Masayuki wonder if she ever really would cry over small matters. Would she ever cry over him?

It didn't matter and it shouldn't matter and she did not need to care about him that much because the sight of her, dripping wet and looking concerned over him, made his white noise become more focused. It became the forefront of all the sounds around him; it became the melody, the harmony, the rhythm. The _thud, thud, thud_ was playing double time and it was stupid and annoying and frustrating and-

Warm.

The rain was cooling the air around them and Masayuki felt warm under the presence of Yuu.

He couldn't hear the rain because his heart was too loud. That morning he was worried. He was terrified about what that it could mean. What it did mean- what it meant. He was terrified because he knew he loved her and the rain falling down was some shitty little representation of how fast he fell for her and he knew it this whole time- but he was scared. But Yuu, standing in front of him, doing something something drastic and unnecessary like running to his apartment and back to the school just to make sure he was okay made him want to laugh and join in on the tune his heart played for him.

Masayuki used to think he didn't have time in his schedule or his routine to fall in love, but she was there in front of him, and he couldn't help but feel _alive_ because of it.

He assured Yuu he was fine and walked her back home and kept her photo on his phone.

He _liked_ it. He _liked_ the white noise and the photo and the warmth and walking her home and her and _none_ of it was a routine he planned out and set himself on.

His heart beat like a routine, but he just never heard it so loud and maybe he fell in love with her as some sort of routine of fate and he just never noticed.

Liking Yuu and being with her would not- would never- be a mistake.

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(A/N) Thank you for reading!

I thought of this prompt and started writing it way back in July, then finished it up in August, and now it's almost November and I'm posting this lol;;;

What better day to triple post than Yuu's birthday though!

I hope you enjoyed!


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